Weeks 11 and 12: Reality TV
1)How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or ‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
ENGL 602. Blogs.
ReplyDeleteWeek 11-12: Reality TV
Alister Kreft. 17974588.
Today Reality TV is very popular and easy to recognise, though the defining elements of the genre have eluded industry, audience and scholars, especially now as reality TV encompasses such a vast array of content and subject matter. The problem lies in how the term ‘reality’ has been applied over the years. Hill (2005) identifies reality TV as ‘diverse’ and a “genre in transition”, which go to some lengths to highlight the difficulty in defining reality TV, which relies on ‘multi-generic participation.’ Scholars like Hill have offered their own definitions for reality TV which we will observe and attempt to determine what defines reality TV.
Hill (2005) recognises the TV industry obviously plays an important role in our experience of reality TV, though in industry terms reality or factual TV programming is influenced heavily by tabloid journalism, documentary TV and popular entertainment (which themselves include a host of sub-genre). Through the quest to remain popular and relevant producers are often tasked with making new and exciting shows, one way to do this is through the use and adaptation of already identifiably successful formats. Hill (2005) explains this process, “television often cannibalises itself, feeding off successful genres and formats in order to create new hybrid programmes.” Examples of this process are, docu-soaps and reality game shows with shows like Police 10/7 and Survivor which provide perfect examples of this hybridisation. Survivor has been one of the more popular reality TV shows of the present day and it effectively combines the documentary and game show formats through its use of: non-professional actors, voiceover narration and unscripted dialogue; combined with individual and group challenges, elimination of contestants and the awarding of prize money. Peter Bazelgette, head of Endemol UK, who produce thousands of hours of reality TV every year says, “some of these so-called reality shows are more factual, some are more formatted, like Pop Idol. A lot of them used to be called documentaries, but people are now just more inventive with them. This helps us to understand reality TV as stemming from the history of the informative documentary but now possess multi-generic features which can vary widely from one reality TV show to another.
Reference List.
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp.14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Reality TV
ReplyDeleteDivyesh Kumar
16949662
Reality TV has evolved so much over the years. From an creative, to trend, to lifestyle. The very first shows categorized and aired as reality TV were somewhat family oriented. However, all reality TV is nowadays, are either scripted rivalries or celebrity drama. The top five 2017 Reality shows currently on TV are Survivor, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Impractical Jokers, The Voice and The Amazing Race, courtesy of Ranker.com. Many of these listed are completely unscripted. Survivor being on the top of the list proves that this has been one of the more prevalent, unscripted shows, casting non-actors and consisting of overcoming challenges, voting contestants out and also being rewarded for being the ‘survivor’. The estimations of security and privacy are now being publicised and shown openly on live television. To state that all Reality TV is doltish and silly is to disregard the improvement of the grenre over the previous decade. (Hill, 2005). Reality TV shows are increasingly seen around the world. As indicated by Hill (2005), there is no correct definition about the unscripted, reality TV, in light of the fact that Reality television is made out of different genres like, sports, musical drama, business, and romance. Some of these genres have come together and created another sort of reality TV. Annette Hill (2005) also goes to say that “Reality TV is also about the viewing experience of a developing factual television genre. It is commonly assumed that audiences cannot tell the difference between entertainment and information, or fiction and reality in popular factual television.” (Hill, 2005, p. 2).
Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audience and popular factual television
1. How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteReality is very easily recognised and very popular in modern society. The concept of reality TV is used to present a varied amount of factual programming. Reality TV has many techniques, styles and characteristics that define it as a genre such as non-professional actors, hand held cameras, surveillance footage, unrehearsed and non-scripted dialogue, and events unfolding in real time in front of a camera. The evolution of reality TV has changed the genre from being specially about law and order and emergency services to being about anything to everything in today’s world; from hunting and fishing to pets, to celebrity families and talent shows etc (Hill, 2005). Hill (2005) acknowledges the TV industry is vital for our perception of reality TV, however most reality television shows are heavily influenced by an external force, namely tabloid journalism, and the entertainment industry. To remain relevant, producers of these reality TV shows must incorporate and adapt into their show things from already popular culture. These in turn are turned into mixed reality shows which are a mixture of certain genres and good examples of these hybrid shows include Man Versus Wild; a doco-soap, Got Talent; worldwide reality talent shows and The Ultimate Fighter; a sport based reality game show with elements of doco-soap. Man Verus Wild has been a revelation in the reality TV genre ever since it was first introduced. It has been one of the grittiest and at times hard to watch, yet oddly satisfying and enjoyable survivalist shows on TV. Its combination of using a trained SAS solider; Bear Grylls to work as the presenter in this documentary style reality show where he journeys through harsh conditions on camera while presenting with unscripted dialogue. Bear on each episode must show how to survive each region he is put in whilst he himself is working his way through the region. This leads him to eating bugs, sleeping in dirt, trekking through ice cold rivers, scaling cliffs with nothing but a rope and even at times drinking his own urine. This level of rawness allows the show to succeed in this modern era of reality TV.
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge